Such a Heart
by silverhelix428
Summary: Any mind-reader could see this. What they won't see is what I see- I see into the killer's heart. I see the love he had for her, stronger than anything I could have ever imagined." AU oneshot from Thanksgiving, Syelle and Nathan centric


A/N- This is basically the only thing that came into my mind when I was watching the Nathan-to-Sylar thing during Thanksgiving. It's depressing, but it's not, if that makes any sense. Mostly just my Syelle brain going into overdrive, because... well, he always loses control of the ELECTRICITY. Not his other powers. The electricity.

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_"I never knew I could feel so much pain, yet be so in love with the person causing it."  
-Unknown_

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We struggle- him to be free, and me to keep him bound up within me. This is the only thing I can do to keep the people I love safe. After everything I have tried to do to protect them, to protect the world _from_ them, there is nothing left but to fight the raging beast inside me and keep him caged.

But it's a losing battle. The mind we occupy is his, and that makes it that much harder for me to stay. I won't give up though. I won't--

_Pain._

Pain everywhere, coursing through every inch of me. Somehow, from beneath my surface layer of consciousness, he's turned on the sparks, and electricity is shooting through me. A thousand volts, ten thousand, who knows? It is agony, and it is everywhere. In me, around me. In the vaguest, detached part of my mind, I wonder who he took this power from.

Then I know. As our minds slip past each other as we reverse roles, I know. I see her, a tiny, beautiful blonde. An angel with a pitchfork, a devil with a halo. Sparks flying everywhere. Love. Hate. Life. Death. All rolled together and sending a broil of conflicted emotions shooting through him. I see the moment when he saved her. The best thing he ever did, the most genuine compassion he's ever shown. It reminds me a little of Peter. I never knew that this monster with me was capable of such kindness.

There's more to it. I see the betrayal. I see the moment of her death, that horrible moment on the beach. I see the look of grieving acceptance in her eyes as she allows us to slice her head open.

Any mind-reader could see this, I'm sure. What they won't see is what I see- I see into the killer's heart, down to the lonely, lost man he used to be. I see the love he had for her, stronger than anything I could have ever imagined- from him or from anyone else.

And in that moment, while we're still tangled together, more one conflicted mind than two, something shifts. My horror and compassion for the unknown woman blends together with his grief and regret and pain, and becomes something more. What little altruism I have mixes with this love he hides away in his heart, and in that moment, I know that I have won. I won't survive to see the victory. But I have won. Because though he could bear the weight of his own heart, mine is too much for him to carry.

I slip back into the shadows to wait for the end. The electricity still arcing across our body now turns inward, building upon itself, feeding itself, until there is too much to be contained, and all our horrible grief and keening loss bursts forth in a shower of sparks. Sylar hit his own kill spot.

And now I feel the pain, because he is gone, shooting out into the ether in a trace of blue electricity, and I am alone in this dying body.

Peter is beside me suddenly. He lays his hands desperately on the gaping, self-cauterized wound in my chest, but he can't heal anymore and it does no good. "Nathan?" he whispers.

"I'm here," I say softly. "He's gone."

"Wh-what happened?" he asks.

I take his hand in mine, staring into his eyes. "Love conquers all. I never knew--" I break off, coughing weakly. "--Never knew he had such a heart." Peter looks confused. "The girl," I elaborate, knowing I don't have much time left before the life drains out of me. "The electric girl."

"Elle?" he asks, stunned.

I nod. "That's the one. He loved her. Killed her. Mourned her. He's gone to be with her. And I have to go, too."

Peter's eyes are filled with unshed tears. I can't remember the last time I saw my baby brother cry. "No, Nathan, please, not like this!" he begs, but there's nothing I can do to stop it now.

"No, Peter, you have to move on," I say. "Be happy. I did what we set out to do so long ago- the world is saved. From him, anyway. You've got to keep fighting the good fight, but hopefully this will make it easier. Goodbye, Pete."

And then I am gone, racing away from my sobbing family and off into the night, joyfully chasing two twin trails of sparks that dance around me in the sky...


End file.
